How to Improve the Honesty of Students in Indonesia? Sufism-Based Islamic Education Model as An Alternative

The phenomenon of dishonesty among Indonesian students is severe and frequent. The conventional lecture model to teach principles of ethics, morality and honesty is less reliable. A new and more effective model is needed. Sufism is a discipline of Islamic science that studies the inner dimension of man as an effort to approach God as closely as possible. In Sufism there are several core characteristics such as God is always felt to be present, zuhud, uzlah, and qana`ah. The research aims to produce a model of Islamic education based on Sufism to increase students’ honesty. The research took place in two universities in the city of Bandung, Indonesia. In each university, three experimental classes (200 students) used the Sufism-based education model, while the other three classes (control class) used the conventional model (200 students). The study material as well as number of sessions (six times face to face) on honesty for the two classes was the same. The difference was that the experimental class was taught honesty through Sufism based principles, while the control class studied through the conventional method different from Sufism. The research method was quasi-experimental as before and after six lectures, we tested both classes with a pre-test and a post-test. The result was an increase in scores in both groups but the experimental group scored much higher than the control one. The implication is that the Islamic education model based on Sufism is proven to be more effective than the conventional education model in increasing students’ honesty.